We are in this liminal space from the last Sunday in Epiphany to Ash Wednesday. It is a space of transition. A shift is happening.

This season of Epiphany has had more meaning in my life as I have watched the Lord unfold his glory in different ways in my life. I have prayed through the texts we have had each Sunday and it has been an amazing journey.

This past Sunday was Transfiguration Sunday, where we read from the Gospel about the transfiguration of Christ. He met Moses and Elijah in that moment. Our Old Testament reading was from 1 Kings 19 where Elijah went to Horeb and the Lord met him there. The power of the story grips me. Elijah is battling depression and the Lord brings him on a 40 day journey to the mountain of God. He then visits Elijah and leads with what was fantastic and in Hebrew lore was a sure sign of the presence of God: a great wind that seemed to split the mountain, an earthquake, and fire. And in all of it, Elijah was not moved.

It was after all that when Elijah knew God was really there.

After the fire, there was a sound. Thin. Quiet. (1 Kings 19:12, Common English Bible)

I love that translation. All the noise happening, which had been generally equated with the presence of God, and Elijah wasn’t budging. But that thin quiet … something… came along and Elijah knew: Okay, NOW he has shown up to me.

We too often are swept away by the spectacular. The noise. The lights. We may miss the thin space where God may indeed be at that moment.

Epiphany moves into Lent this week, but here is the lesson I am taking in this time: I am not “leaving” Epiphany. I am asking the unfolding glory of the Lord to continue into Lent.

I do not need to see Lent as “mournful” or “deep sadness.” I am to see it as preparation for resurrection. And that does NOT mean “sadness” all the time. Lent will be a time of deepening my hunger for the presence of Jesus, his unfolding glory, in my life. In this time of Lent, may I still walk in Epiphany! Let his glory keep unfolding in my life so the goodness of the Kingdom has more room to flow in me and through me.

This is my prayer in this season.